Description
Brutalist Steel Silhouette Chess Set.
A Brutalist Steel Silhouette chess set, fabricated from 3/32″ Steel sheet. The design of the chessmen suggests a Medieval theme. The King stands 5” tall standing atop a 1-5/8” diameter base. The polished and anodized pieces are in as new condition. The chess pieces are cut from standard Steel sheet stock standing atop tac-welded 1/8″ circular steel bases cushioned with black felt. The maker’s sticker “Hecho en Mexico” is affixed to the base of each of the chess pieces and is typical of Mexican artisan workshop pieces from the 1970s-1980s. These sets are known among collectors of steel, aluminum, and wire-formed chess sets from Latin America. While several Mexican workshops produced similar designs, exact attribution for these Brutalist Steel Silhouette chess pieces is difficult as these stickers were broadly used in Mexico for handicrafts and chess sets. The manufacture likely dating to the heart of the Brutalist or Minimalist period and were probably crafted around 1970 in Mexico. The Spanish Black and white veneer chessboard shown is not included, but a suitable chessboard can be found here.
Some Background
Brutalist design emerged in the 1950s and flourished through the 1970s, though it experienced a decline in favor by the 1980s. The style originated in post-World War II Britain and Europe, with the first built Brutalist work being the Secondary School at Hunstanton in Norfolk, England (1954) designed by Peter and Alison Smithson. It was characterized by raw concrete, bold geometric forms, and a utilitarian aesthetic that rejected ornamentation in favor of exposing materials and structural elements.
Minimalist design has a more complex timeline with roots extending further back. Early influences trace to the Bauhaus School, founded in 1919. However, minimalism as a distinct movement emerged in the early 1960s in New York among visual artists, and the term “minimalism” itself was popularized in the 1960s when it emerged as a reaction to Abstract Expressionism. Minimalist design gained broader popularity and achieved widespread ubiquity in the 1980s, particularly in response to the excess of that decade, influencing fashion, interior design, and architecture.
The key distinction is that while Brutalism dominated the 1950s-70s period with its bold, raw aesthetic, Minimalism as a design movement gained prominence starting in the 1960s and truly flourished in the 1980s onward. Though both movements share a philosophy of reduction, they represent different eras and approaches to design simplicity.
